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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Is there anyway to record from a guitar into band in a box? BIAB looks like it only accepts single notes for the melody track. So if I'm trying to record from a guitar with 6 strings into band in a box--is there some way to make that work?
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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See my previous answer to your other post. Roland synth-pickup interfaces let you run all six strings' output into a single MIDI channel.
Also, don't confuse notes with channels. Single notes vs chords is one thing. Whether those notes come over one MIDI channel or several is another.
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Airchair,
If you are attempting to replace the automatically generated guitar track, then the answer is no. Since Band In A Box has only one audio track (PC version, I'm not sure about the Mac version) you could mute the guitar track and record your own guitar track as audio, but that would leave you no place to record anything else.
Moving everything to a DAW or Audio Sequencer would allow you to record all the tracks you wished.
If you are looking to record the guitar as MIDI, then you will need the appropriate guitar/MIDI interface, and however you have that set up, you can record that to the Melody track. However, your output will have to be on a single MIDI channel, and will need to be the same MIDI channel as the Melody.
If you wish to record each string as an individual MIDI channel, that is possible, but not in Band In A Box.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 46
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OP
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Hi Gary,
Thanks for your reply. I think I'm getting closer. Yes I want to record a melody track in biab but instead of using a keyboard I want to use a guitar. Now I just need to find out if theRoland GI-10 outputs all 6 notes in a single channel--I'm not sure if it does that. I would be using a g2k pickup into the GI-10 interface into a midi to usb interface.
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 10,199
Veteran
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Air,
Since I am a keyboard player, I don't know. However, I believe that most MIDI guitars and MIDI Guitar pick ups have the option of doing to either way. One of the biggest things that you have to do is make sure the tracking is correct. That determines how well the pickup will interpret the notes. Also, slides and other guitar technique may not work very well when you are trying to transcribe to a MIDI format. Again, I am a keyboard player, and my experience with MIDI guitars is very old, and goes way back. The newer gear may be head and shoulders above what I experimented with.
Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Apr 2009
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Yes, the GI-10 can be configured to send MIDI out on one channel or 6 channels (one per string). I use a GI-10 w/ a GK-2 and I've always had it configured to send on one channel. If you got a used GI-10 w/ a GK-2 for $100 that's a serious score ! I paid $100 for the GI-10 used alone, without a pickup or cable.
Don't stress about it too much, just set it on one channel and record into a MIDI track. Hopefully you have a manual for the GI-10, if not post an email address, and I'll send you a copy.
Personally I find it much easier to create the backing tracks in BIAB and export them into another sequencer (I've used Cubase SX and Logic Express, as well as GarageBand). Then record the MIDI melody onto a single channel track there. Right now the Mac version of BIAB is lacking in MIDI editing capabilities. Hopefully that will change soon, but you will probably find it easier to record and edit the MIDI in another program.
Hopefully this helps.
- Jay
MacPro 5,1/12 core@3.46GHz -- OS X 12.7.6 -- ATI 7970 -- 32 Gig RAM -- Crucial 500GB OS SSD -- Samsung EVO 1TB Audio/Sample SSD -- BIAB 2025 -- Logic Pro X -- Cubase Elements 14 -- Too many plugins
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Hi Jay,
Thanks for the reply. That finally makes sense. I do have the owners manual--just haven't had time to go thru it yet. One last question--if I configure it for one channel does it output all 6 notes on that one channel? If not which note would it pick? I'm still a bit unsure about that. Basically I'm a drummer by nature. I am probably doing things a bit backwards anyways. i write the lyrics for songs, then I send them to my musician friend who comes up with a melody. That's where we get slowed down, because he's self taught and can play great but can't read very well. So I struggle to get his "melody" into biab thru a keyboard. Once the melody gets in, then I build the rest of the song(instruments) around the "original" melody. Once that's done, I export the whole thing to garageband to final mixing, harmonies/vocals etc. kind of a pain, but if I could get him to play his guitar or the melody right into biab that would save a ton of time. Thanks again,
Roger
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Yup, just like a keyboard works, all that good multiple MIDI note data get sent to the same channel, along with pitchbend and a whole bunch of other good stuff. If I were you I'd do my melody recording and editing in Garageband, much easier to work in than BIAB (at the moment). Hopefully BIAB 2010 for mac will have the same MIDI sequencing capabilities as the Windoze version (or better  ), but for now I'd send everything over to GB, and then do your melody there. Much easier to edit notes in GB's piano roll editor, than moving MIDI notes around in BIAB. Trust me I've tried.  If you are just starting out with a guitar-MIDI controller, you may be spending a fair amount of time working on cleaning up your playing technique, ease of editing notes is going to be a sanity saver. You'll be moving a lot of notes around (at least for a while). When I started with MIDI guitar a bunch of years ago, it really exposed a lot of sloppy playing techniques that I'd developed over the years. Playing the MIDI rig has actually helped my playing a lot (even though I still suck at guitar ). Hopefully this helps. - Jay
MacPro 5,1/12 core@3.46GHz -- OS X 12.7.6 -- ATI 7970 -- 32 Gig RAM -- Crucial 500GB OS SSD -- Samsung EVO 1TB Audio/Sample SSD -- BIAB 2025 -- Logic Pro X -- Cubase Elements 14 -- Too many plugins
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Now ya got me confused again. lol. Everything else you said makes perfect sense. But if I record directly into garageband--it will not export midi files---. So being that I use the melody to build my songs from in biab how could I ever export a melody from garageband and get it into the melody track for biab? Also you can only import midi files into the mac version of biab so I'm not sure how you're getting the melody from garageband into biab.
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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No it's me who is confused, you did say you did it backwards, didn't you ? My bad, I read too fast, your way will work just fine. I was just having bad flashbacks about trying to move all those tiny notes around in the notation editor. - Jay
MacPro 5,1/12 core@3.46GHz -- OS X 12.7.6 -- ATI 7970 -- 32 Gig RAM -- Crucial 500GB OS SSD -- Samsung EVO 1TB Audio/Sample SSD -- BIAB 2025 -- Logic Pro X -- Cubase Elements 14 -- Too many plugins
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Hi Jay,
thanks again for all your help. I can relate to manually putting all those notes--there's nothing worse. LOl
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Hi Jay,
Maybe a little help--again. lol. Well I got the g2k and the gi10 interface. I have it recording into biab--but when I play it back it always sounds like vibrophone--not guitar. I've tried setting the melody and guitar patches under midi setup to 26--which should be acoustic guitar--but it never changes. I'm sure it's something simple but so far I have not found it. Just wondering of you could help me out with your settings maybe. Thanks
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Joined: Apr 2009
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Are you using an external sound module or the built in Mac sounds ?
Does the patch change to acoustic guitar if you change it during playback ?
If you are able to get the guitar sound during playback, make sure the next time you save your song to do "Save with patches" and select the "Acoustic Guitar" sound from the pop-up menu (for melody track) in the dialog, otherwise it may revert to vibraphone on the next launch.
If you're using an external sound module make sure you have "Program Changes" checked under the "Recording Filter" dialog under the MIDI menu.
Hopefully this helps.
- Jay
Last edited by JayO; 03/20/10 09:13 PM.
MacPro 5,1/12 core@3.46GHz -- OS X 12.7.6 -- ATI 7970 -- 32 Gig RAM -- Crucial 500GB OS SSD -- Samsung EVO 1TB Audio/Sample SSD -- BIAB 2025 -- Logic Pro X -- Cubase Elements 14 -- Too many plugins
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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Hi Jay,
Well I'm getting closer. Lol. Still cannot get the original guitar sound from when I first record using the g2k--but I can get it after I save with patches and play back--and it sounds real accurate. I'll play around with it a bit more. Thanks
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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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You could try putting the GI-10 in "Program Change Mode" ( P. C on the front panel ) and use the GK-2 up and down buttons to select the patch before you start recording, then save the song with patches.
Hopefully this helps.
- Jay
MacPro 5,1/12 core@3.46GHz -- OS X 12.7.6 -- ATI 7970 -- 32 Gig RAM -- Crucial 500GB OS SSD -- Samsung EVO 1TB Audio/Sample SSD -- BIAB 2025 -- Logic Pro X -- Cubase Elements 14 -- Too many plugins
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